1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a comprehensive employee benefit and financial communication system. More particularly, the benefit and financial communication system includes a center which is a conveniently located facility on the premises containing an easy-to-use unattended computer terminal that an employee having no formal training can operate for a number of purposes including inquiries, transactions, and forecast concerning benefits, savings plans, and financial service information.
2. State of the Prior Art
It is customary for employers or insurance companies on behalf of employers to maintain employee benefit and financial information on mainframe computers. These computers output benefit information in various forms, often in formats which are only meaningful to benefit administrators or those familiar with the benefit system due to the use of extensive coding and numerical data. Periodically, typically annually or semi-annually, personalized benefit statements detailing the status of an employee's benefits are produced and delivered to the employee. At any other time during the year if an employee desired similar information on a current basis, he or she must initiate an inquiry to the appropriate department of the employer, usually the benefits administrator. The benefits administrator would then format an interrogation and refer it to the appropriate data entry input unit or directly input the request to the mainframe computer. The computer would thereafter provide the information, usually in some coded and numerical form. This information enables the benefits administrator to prepare the appropriate response in a form which can be readily understood by the employee. Under the best of conditions, this inquiry process can take several days.
Banks have recognized the importance of personalized direct electronic access of bank account information by individual customers by use of automated teller machines (ATM). These machines provide customers with the ability to make inquiries as to their account balances and to direct that simple banking transactions be performed; however, such automatic teller machines are not adapted to present the relatively complex information such as that connected with employee benefit plans or to enable individuals to select options and to seek projections describing what savings or withdrawals in various amounts and under various conditions might mean to them in the future.